Arthur O'Shaughnessy

Arthur William Edgar O'Shaughnessy (14 March 1844 – 30 January 1881) was a British poet and herpetologist[1] of Irish descent, born in London.[2] He is most remembered for his ode beginning with the words "We are the music makers, /And we are the dreamers of dreams" which has been set to music several times.

However, O'Shaughnessy's true passion was for literature. He published his first collection of poetry, Epic of Women, in 1870, followed two years later by Lays of France in 1872, and then Music and Moonlight in 1874. When he was thirty, he married and did not produce any more volumes of poetry for the last seven years of his life. He died at age 36 from a "chill" after walking home from the theatre on a rainy night.[3] His last volume, Songs of a Worker, was published posthumously in 1881.

The artists Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Ford Madox Brown were among O'Shaughnessy's circle of friends, and in 1873 he married Eleanor Marston, the daughter of author John Westland Marston and sister of the poet Philip Bourke Marston. Together, he and his wife wrote a book of children's stories titled Toy-land (1875). They had two children together, both of whom died in infancy. Eleanor died in 1879, and O'Shaughnessy himself died in London two years later from the effects of a "chill." He is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery.

By far the most noted of any his works are the initial lines of the Ode from his book Music and Moonlight (1874):

We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers
And sitting by desolate streams;—
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.

With wonderful deathless ditties,
we build up the world's great cities.
And out of a fabulous story,
we fashion an empire's glory.
One man, with a dream, at pleasure
shall go forth and conquer a crown.
And three, with a new song's measure
can trample an empire down.

We, in the ages lying,
in the buried past of the Earth,
built Nineveh with our sighing
and Babel itself with our mirth.
And o'erthrew them with prophesying
to the old of the New World's worth.
For each age is a dream that is dying,
or one that is coming to birth.

line from Willy Wonka sampled and used in 808 State's song, "Nephatiti" on the album Ex:el.

The entire ode is quoted in the opening of "Dreamers of Dreams: An Anthology of Webfiction" (2011), an ebook anthology series of online fiction, as well as inspiring the name of the series.

used the line "We are the music makers / and we are the dreamers of dreams" in the spoken words of Gene Wilder (Willy Wonka) at the beginning of the original song written by Rob Bach "Dream" on YouTube. The full poem quote was also included in the description of the song "Dream".

the first two lines are used in the intro to Bastille's "Dreams" (Fleetwood Mac cover) from Other People's Heartache, Pt.2 album (2012)

First verse used in BBC TV advert for its own programming, 2013.

"One man with a dream, at pleasure, Shall go forth and conquer a crown; And three with a new song's measure Can trample an empire down" was used by Mack Reynolds as the opening dedication (and title to) his novel "Trample an Empire Down" (1978).

The line "Each age is a dream that is dying,or one that is coming to birth." is quoted in Franklin D.Roosevelt's second Inaugural Address (1937).